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“Thank you so much to Emilie for this sample. It’s a mellower-medium sort of black tea but I can pick up on some fruity notes – probably the grenadine – and the vanilla notes which are lovely. The...”
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“Having some of this iced while waiting for Formula 1 practice to start. Before I added ice this was SO red thanks to the grenadine. It actually looked like grenadine syrup!
I’d never had a Monks...”
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“I enjoyed this tea hot the first time I tried it, but I thought it might be better as an iced tea. I like it more iced.
As a hot tea, the grenadine is pretty strong, allowing the vanilla to just...”
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“Thank you momo for this sample! It smells good but I learned from Adagio that I just don’t like ceylon types. I like the story behind this tea with the monks and all but I couldn’t finish my cup....”
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From Tropical Tea Company

Monks Blend is a medium bodied and flavory piquant Ceylon character. Blended with natural flavor oils of vanilla and grenadine which makes for a unique blend. Monks Blend is made with a luxury black tea, sunflower petals, and natural petals.

Background of this tea: First created by Tibetan monks-infused with universal life energy, this tea is a perfect all day treat; sweet and toasty with a touch of dryness in a subtle bouquet. Originally, it is believed that this blend was developed by monks to support their life’s desires, especially the work they did all by hand. Tea is an item that these monks considered ‘good for the soul’. Franciscan monks used to drink this tea to keep them awake during long periods of meditation. It is fare to say that this is an acient and harmonious blend as it is also used by Buddhist and Taoist monks.

20 Tasting Notes

Thank you so much to Emilie for this sample. It’s a mellower-medium sort of black tea but I can pick up on some fruity notes – probably the grenadine – and the vanilla notes which are lovely. The other Monks Blends I have had – I remember tasting very similar. This one is just as good with maybe a little less of the grenadine. Regardless it’s pretty tasty. Both hot and cold! I’m so happy I was able to try this Monks Blend from this company thanks to Emilie.

Having some of this iced while waiting for Formula 1 practice to start. Before I added ice this was SO red thanks to the grenadine. It actually looked like grenadine syrup!

I’d never had a Monks Blend before, but at a dollar an ounce, I figured I would give it a shot since it sounded like something I would like.

This has a nice sweetness from the grenadine, and the vanilla gives it nice touch of cream. Very refreshing and well paired with the black tea base. I also have a LOT of this now because Tropical Tea Company is extremely awesome in the customer service department…more on that in a review about them!

Is it possible that another company has the same tea but better quality? I got my Monks Blend from The London Tea Room and it is VERY good excellent quality! Yet my teas from Tropical Tea Company while not bad by any means are not quite as good.

Very much so. It can be a matter of tea quality, or the specific blend. Monks Blend is just that, it’s a blend. Consider it like Earl Grey. You take 20 different Earl Grey teas and they can hardly resemble one another. The quality of the tea leaf, the type and ratios of the base blend, the quality of the flavoring oils, the amount of oils used, etc. will all factor into it.

I enjoyed this tea hot the first time I tried it, but I thought it might be better as an iced tea. I like it more iced.

As a hot tea, the grenadine is pretty strong, allowing the vanilla to just peak through a bit. Just enough vanilla to make the tea creamy. So you have sweet, tart and creamy mixture that does pretty well by my palate.

As an iced tea I find the vanilla makes a stronger presence. Vanilla always seems to show up better for me the colder my tea is. Now I have a creamy, sweet tea with just a hint of tart at the end. I think I’ll stick with my monk’s blend as an iced tea.

Preparation

Thank you momo for this sample! It smells good but I learned from Adagio that I just don’t like ceylon types. I like the story behind this tea with the monks and all but I couldn’t finish my cup. My taste buds just don’t agree with it. My boyfriend on the other hand liked it and said it was smooth, citrusy, and light.

I’ve had a Monk’s Blend before and while, thanks to Jillian, I now know that grenadine is not cherry flavoring, it still registers in my brain as cherry. I just can’t help it! So this smells very cherry-y, or perhaps like heated Dr Pepper. The taste is vaguely similar too, but with less citrus burst (though the hot Dr Pepper I tried had lemon it in, which would explain the citrus.) I did add sugar and milk but after tasting it, I’m thinking it might be okay on its own – it’s pretty sweet and I didn’t add that much sugar. I’m pretty sure this has calendula petals in it (at least it looks like it does) but it’s a lot less than the other MB I tried. Since calendula seems to make my tongue tingle unpleasantly, less calendula is a good thing. Anyway, this isn’t exactly a complex tea and is a bit like drinking warm Cherry Coke. But I like it.

Preparation

I just got more tea in today! I’m kinda overwhelmed now. I definitely wasn’t expecting it all at once! If anybody wants to try any of my teas, please let me know and I would be more than happy to send you a sample.

This tea smells like some kind of soda in the bag. I made it to hopefully help me through the Genetics and Evolution test I have to take in an hour. I didn’t get much of the grenadine or vanilla flavor, mostly just the tea itself. I’ll have to try this in different ways and see what works best.

First and foremost, this is my first experience with any Monk’s Blend. The smell from the bag is a sweet knee to the face. Incredibly sweet and intriguing. I’ll be steeping this at around 195 for roughly 3 1/2 minutes. One minute into steeping and there’s a very nice dark copper color.

Now I’m just starting to spread my wings into the world of flavored teas (The Earl aside of course). This seems like a very logical starting point for me, as I already know that I like grenadine. Cherry’s always been my favorite flavor of everything, and though grenadine doesn’t automatically equate to cherry, that’s what most of us associate it with. Regardless, grenadine makes me like things. For example, I don’t like any tequila that isn’t top shelf, but I’ll flat out murder a Tequila Sunrise.

Based on the sweetness of the in bag smell, I’ve decided not to add any milk or sugar, which is a bit odd for me. I’m looking forward to trying this again later with a splash of milk, but after my initial taste, I know I made the right call. This is a smooth tea with a nice sweet finish. The grenadine clearly carries the flavor, but their* is a subtle creaminess added by the vanilla. That’s just the way I like it. When it comes to vanilla, a little bit goes a very long way for me. I think it’s a bit sweet to be a daily drinker at this point, but I’m definitely glad that I’ve got a couple oz’s on hand. I betting that a splash of milk will add a nice bit of creaminess to the flavor that will make me enjoy it even more, though I can’t see any reason to add any sugar to this. I’m also looking forward to trying this blend iced.

*I was talking to multiple people, both online and in person, while trying to write this. As such, I completely forgot to proof read this little review at all. While most people would have simply made the correction upon noticing it, I just can’t live with that. The there, they’re, their error is far too egregious a mistake for me to just edit it out after it’s gone public. I’ve snuffed the myriad of other typos I caught on one read through (which in no way means I didn’t miss any), but only that was left to stand as shining monument of how inept I become when I attempt to multitask.

Preparation

The dry leaves of this smell wonderful. Tropical, in fact. It smells heavily of dried mango, even though there’s no actual mango in this. It has some nice overtones of vanilla. The brewed tea loses the mango smell entirely and goes straight to cherry. It’s creamy, even without milk. Unfortunately, I just learned that I don’t like cherry-flavored tea (which shouldn’t be all that surprising, since I don’t really like cherries…). Blah. Into the swap pile with you!

Preparation

I got this from Tropical Tea Company’s $1/oz sale. At that price, this is definitely worth a try.

Upon opening the pouch, the smell of the leaves reminded me strongly of cherry Coke. The aroma after brewing remained about the same. The tea itself is sort of sweet and creamy (that may have been the tiny bit of milk I added, though). I thought I could detect a hint of vanilla. The cherry aroma from the dry leaves and brewed tea doesn’t actually taste like cherry. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s still a fruity flavour.

I’ll be trying this out again and writing more notes on it. The majority of my tea logs from this week aren’t as detailed as I’d like for them to be, mostly because I’ve been drinking the teas while being absorbed in my textbooks.